If a black student has just one or two black teachers in elementary school, he or she is significantly more likely to enroll in college, concludes a new Johns Hopkins University study.
Black students who had one black teacher by 3rd grade were 13 percent more likely to enroll in college, while those who had two black teachers were 32 percent more likely, the study shows.
Why? Researchers found that while teachers are generally optimistic about students’ college potential, white teachers are systematically less optimistic about black students than white ones. However, the dataset did not show whether the benefit grows if a black student has more than two black teachers.
